I want Anna to know what her body parts are called. However, It can be awkward as kids tend to talk about EVERYTHING haha and it can be embarrassing for mums if their kids fall over on an icey street and come running up saying, "Mummy my vagina hurts!"... Okay maybe an odd example but it is the best I could come up with.
I think I will just see what feels right when she is old enough to be asking, and might end up using both i.e. "girls have vagina's, boys have penis's but we call them Minnie's and Willie's because it sounds nicer
" or something like that. I don't know if that will be too complex for them to understand but I will see as I go along and go with what feels right.
As for when they are older, I am not sure yet whether I will be taking Anna out of health education classes as they are too sexualised (i.e. 6 and 7 year olds being taught about condoms and sexual health, as I do believe this is to young) I agree that children need to know the proper names for the parts of their bodies. My sister was always really uncomfortable with the word 'vagina' and it turned out that at the age of 18 she didn't even know that her urethra was separate from her vagina - she was pregnant at the time, and she honestly thought the baby came from the same place that she peed from! She had no idea there was a third whole, which the wee came from which was a tube that lead to the bladder. I mean my God this is basic information that people should just know - people should know about their bodies.
However I would rather teach Anna myself and make it more like "body education" I will teach her the parts of her body, where they are and what they do i.e. what happens every month with periods and what she can expect as she reaches puberty. I will not be teaching her about sex until she reaches puberty or if she seems curious / asks me about it. In that case I will then teach her about sex i.e. "when a man and woman love each other they might have sex. This is where the man puts his penis into the woman's vagina. etc etc" I will answer any questions that she has honestly and fully. And I will tell her that people should not have sex, or touch each other in sexual places (breasts, vagina, willy etc) unless both partners love each other and feel ready and like they want to, and that the legal age to do it is 16. I will also teach her about safe sex as soon as she knows what sex is; she will know that sex can lead to pregnancy and how, she will know how to have sex and avoid pregnancy, and I will be giving her information on sexual health services like her local drop in clinic and let her know where she can get contraception from. I will also at this point teach her all about STI's and STDs.
But that will all come much, much later - as I do not believe that children below puberty should be concerned with sexual issues or ideas.
Health issues and knowing their own body I believe is very important, but knowing you have a vagina (and knowing the proper word for it!) does not need to mean knowing about sex, which most schools seem to be unaware of! I was shocked to see that there was even talk of bringing the age you are taught sex education down to 4! Children don't need to know about sex - and the longer I can protect Anna from that, the better. I also don't want her preoccupied with ridicules ideas of whether she is attractive or 'sexy'. I saw a child in gap once asking her mum to buy her a thong (looked about 6!)
Since when do they make thongs for six year olds!
Anyway, sorry for that essay. In short, I think I will be teaching Anna the proper names for things
As I think it is important for a person to know all about your body and how it works - it is basic general knowledge - good to know
that one always confused me, cos in sabrina the teenage witch there was that song
